October 29, 2024
SO–IL releases design for Art Omi Pavilions at Chatham

October 1, 2024
SO–IL Shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2024

September 12, 2024
SO–IL's Urban Domesticity Exhibition Opens at the University of Toronto

September 10, 2024
Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu were Inducted as Academicians of the National Academy of Design

August 12, 2024
144 Vanderbilt Featured in The New York Times

June 14, 2024
SO–IL x KGDVS Shortlisted for New M HKA in Antwerp

With partner OFFICE KGDVS, we are shortlisted in the upcoming competition for the new Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp. Expanding from the museum’s current home in a converted grain solo, these new facilities will be a ground-up realization of the city’s desire for a purpose-built center for the presentation of contemporary art and practice. 

May 24, 2024
SO–IL \ WCMA: Building a New Museum

Today, the Williams College Museum of Art opens their exhibition SO–IL \ WCMA: Building a New Museum. 

From WCMA:

“Organized jointly by the design team and the museum, this exhibition showcases plans and renderings of the building design. It also offers a view into our work in progress and the fluid and iterative process helped us get to where we are today. Our hope is that this provides a sense of what goes into the design of a complex and ambitious building, and provides an opportunity for our communities to learn and think together about what it means to make a campus art museum for the future.”

The exhibition will be on view through December. 

April 12, 2024
Common Thread at Bruges Triennial

Last week, our immersive textile installation Common Thread opened at Bruges Triennial 2024. The wave-like structure, composed of a 3D knit inspired by the city’s lacemaking tradition, connects a previously inaccessible 19th-century monastery courtyard back to the city. The installation will stand through early January 2025.

For more information:

http://so-il.org/projects/common-thread

March 14, 2024
Triennale Brugge

For the past months, we have been working on developing an installation for Triennale Brugge, and are excited about the opening on the 13th of April. We look forward to sharing more as we soon start construction. 
The national press opening will be on the 10th of April, and the international press opening on the 11th. 
For more information: https://triennalebrugge.be/en/artists/so-il

March 7, 2024
Unveiling the design of Williams College Museum of Art

Today, the design of Williams College new home for its campus art museum was unveiled. Designed by SO–IL, the new Williams College Museum of Art is projected to open in 2027. Designing a college art museum is one of the most exciting tasks we as architects can imagine. Orchestrating synergies between the past, present, and future enables us to create a home where students, faculty, community, and collection converge. We believe space is as much a teacher as the programs it houses, so we are thrilled to partner with WCMA in designing a building in which different modes of art study and appreciation can intersect, coexist, and reinvent one another. Walls do not confine the concept of this museum, but rather the inviting gesture of an overarching roof that delineates spaces for these interactions to take place. Contributing to this beautiful landscape, we hope the building will become a welcoming beacon, situated sensitively between campus and the world beyond.

For more information: 

http://so-il.org/projects/williams-college-of-art

https://artmuseum.williams.edu/wcma-building-project/

March 5, 2024
450 Warren wins arch daily's Building of the Year 2024 - Housing

We are very proud and honored that 450 Warren has won arch daily’s Building of the Year 2024 in the housing category. Thank you so much for voting, and thank you to the whole team for all the effort that went into the project.

March 5, 2024
Long Book 17 Amant SO–IL AMAG

We are excited to announce that the AMANT project is featured in the seventeenth title from AMAG’s LONG BOOK series. The publication features essays by Amant’s founder and CEO, Lonti Ebers; the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, Martino Stierli; and architect and co-founder of MONADNOCK, Job Floris. For more information, and to purchase: https://www.amagpublisher.com/product-page/lb17-so-il-amant

September 25, 2023
Amant featured in Domus

We are honored to be featured with an article on Amant in the September issue of Domus Magazine. An issue that focuses on the importance of materials and the artists who explore their possibilities. 

August 29, 2023
SO–IL in conversation with Ben Lovett for the BBC

Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu explore with Mumford & Sons founder Ben Lovett how the firm’s philosophy and processes enrich and shape not only their buildings but also the people and artworks that inhabit them.
Link to podcast here.

August 23, 2023
450 Warren earns Innovation By Design Award 2023

We are delighted to be included on the list of winning designers honored by this year’s Fast Company’s Innovation By Design Award. Together with Tankhouse, we have embarked on this housing project journey with a design that frees urban multi-unit dwellings from traditional protocols, engaging with what makes the city more livable: conversations with the outdoors and conversations with others. 

August 11, 2023
Site Verrier winning AR New Into Old Award

We are grateful to be the winners of this year’s AR New Into Old Award with Site Verrier, Meisenthal, together with our Paris-based partners Freaks Architecture. A grand shout-out to the entire team and the jury of Architectural Review for selecting our project. Read on here to learn more about the project and this year’s shortlist.

July 10, 2023
Brooklyn's Amant Art Campus shortlisted in Berlin

We are thrilled to be among one of the selected architectural studios the jury of the Erich Mendelsohn Award 2023 for Brick Architecture has chosen from: Only 76 architecture offices and projects from a total of 584 submissions worldwide made it to the list. We are one of them and are excited to be included.

July 5, 2023
SO–IL part of the Wallpaper* 300 guide to Creative America

We are excited to announce that Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg have been included in the Wallpaper* list of 300 names who are forging new paths through America’s design landscape. 
Read on for more details here.

July 3, 2023
Shortlisted for AR New Into Old Award

We are gratified to have been selected as one of the six finalists in this year’s AR New Into Old awards with Site Verrier, Meisenthal and our partners Freaks Architecture.
Read on for more details here.

May 25, 2023
SO–IL becoming B-Corp certified Architectural Firm

We’re incredibly excited to announce that SO–IL is a certified B-Corp, joining a global community of businesses measuring our social and environmental impact. There are 167 architecture firms certified worldwide, of which 69 are based in the U.S. - and only 6 MWBE. We are proud to be one of them allowing for company structures built around transparency, accountability, and inclusion.  We will continuously strive to do better and use business as a force for the good. 

March 29, 2023
The Local Center, a new initiative coming to life with The Urban Design Forum and Jing Liu as board member

We are thrilled to announce that the Urban Design Forum and the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD) are launching the Local Center, a new initiative that connects neighborhood leaders, designers, and government agencies to transform public space across New York City. As a board member of the Urban Design Forum, Jing Liu principal at SO–IL, has been spearheading the development of this program over the past two years which centers design around community engagement, while advocating and committing to strengthening the community engagement’s role in the design process.

The Local Center initiative will begin this spring and is going to equip five neighborhood organizations with technical assistance, funding, and connections to reclaim public spaces for new cultural celebrations and storytelling. Learn more about the initiative in the link below.

https://urbandesignforum.org/announcing-the-local-center/

March 28, 2023
Jing Liu announced Judge for this year's Dezeen Awards

We are honoured and excited for Jing Liu to join the judging panel of the 2023 Dezeen Awards. Together with Architects Koichi Takada, creative director Rafael de Cárdenas, Architecture Hunter founder Amanda Ferber and interior architect Tola Ojuolape, Jing Liu will be in the committee to judge the design entries. Read on to learn more about the panel in the link below. The Dezeen awards are open for submission until June 2023.

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/03/28/koichi-takada-rafael-de-cardenas-jing-liu-dezeen-awards-2023/

February 8, 2023
Amant as part of MoMA's "Architecture Now: New York, New Publics"

We are excited and honored to be included in the inaugural edition of MoMA’s Architecture Now exhibition: New York, New Publics, on view from Feb 19th till July 29th. Amant, a campus in industrial Brooklyn for the creation and experience of art envisioned by Lonti Ebers, is part of an exhibition organized by Evangelos Kotsioris, Assistant Curator, and Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator, with Paula Vilaplana de Miguel, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, that brings together a bespoke selection of design proposals, ranging from waterfront parks, networks of public pools, and cultural spaces to local community gardens, subway stations, and virtual monuments for underrepresented populations.

June 17, 2022
Amant shortlisted for Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize Award

From the exceptional body of nominated projects, the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) announces 38 projects in MCHAP that were selected by the MCHAP 2022 jury as outstanding. 

https://www.mchap.co/post/mies-crown-hall-americas-prize-announces-mchap-outstanding-projects

June 3, 2022
SO–IL to design the first stand-alone building for the Williams College Museum of Art!

We are pleased to announce that SO–IL will develop the conceptual design for a new building for the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) in Williamstown, MA. The project would provide the first stand-alone facility for WCMA, widely acknowledged as one of the most influential institutions in its field, whose collection has been housed since 1851 in Lawrence Hall, the College’s first library building.

President Maud S. Mandel selected SO–IL following the recommendation of a 12-member Architect Selection Committee composed of college representatives from WCMA, the faculty, and across campus, who brought their collective expertise in arts, architecture, diversity and inclusion, sustainability and community engagement to the process. The selection committee considered nearly 40 national and international architecture firms, then narrowed the candidates to a short list of four.

The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) creates and inspires exceptional experiences with art that are integral to a liberal arts education, lifelong learning and human connection. The museum is a partner in nurturing the cross-disciplinary arts in support of a liberal arts education; advancing the academic and experiential preparation of arts leaders; enriching the cultural ecosystem; engaging artists; and creating a shared learning community that spurs new thinking, creative making and civic engagement. Located on Main Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on the Williams College campus, the museum draws on the collaborative and multidisciplinary ethos of the surrounding college to enliven the more than 15,000 works in its growing collection.

The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Admission is free.

For the press release: https://artmuseum.williams.edu/news-item/so-il-architects-selected-to-design-the-first-stand-alone-building-for-the-williams-college-museum-of-art/
For more information: https://artmuseum.williams.edu/

May 8, 2022
Recipients of the 2022 Architecture Awards by the American Academy of Arts and Letters

We are honored to have been selected as recipients of the 2022 Architecture Awards by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Check out the Announcement Webpage: https://artsandletters.org/pressrelease/2022-architecture-award-winners/

March 28, 2022
SO–IL named United States Artists Fellow for 2022!

We are honored to have been selected as recipients for the 2022 United States Artist Fellowship. The Fellowship awards 63 artists and collaboratives – creative disruptors, social sculptors, and material vanguards who ignite imagination beyond limits. Check out the Announcement Webpage: http://unitedstatesartists.org/2022-fellows

December 9, 2021
SO–IL Selected for PHI Contemporary International Architecture Competition

PHI launched an international architectural competition for the design of the new PHI Contemporary - a 6900 m² / 74000 ft² cultural institution in Old Montreal, dedicated to exploring the contemporary through public engagement with art and culture.

Following an international call for submissions resulting in 11 shortlisted teams, the PHI Contemporary International Design Competition has selected eleven participants for the first phase of the competition.

The call for candidature elicited 65 entries from 14 countries. PHI is tremendously pleased with the Jury’s selection of architectural firms, as a portrait of the diverse means of approaching the project.

July 7, 2021
Amant Grand Opening Party

After years of developing the campus and artistic program, Amant is ready to be the home of a dynamic series of exhibitions, public events, archival projects, performances, and a residency. Located in the heart of Brooklyn, Amant aims to cultivate a unique ecology of relationships between individuals, communities, and ideas.

On July 10th, come enjoy open galleries as well as our courtyard at 315 Maujer to welcome the summer season and celebrate the launch of Amant. The party will feature food trucks (Drip Coffee Makers, Fun Time Frosty and Qué Arepa!), DJ sets (Jose Berrío, Nico Losada and Juan Forero), a firsthand look at our bookstore and more.

During the opening party, visitors are welcome to visit Amant’s inaugural exhibition by Grada Kilomba, “Heroines, Birds and Monsters”, her first in the US. Working with theory, performance, film, and literature, Kilomba reveals the narratives of the colonial past, giving space to the silenced voices whose traumas are ever present.

This event is free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary. See you there!

June 25, 2021
The Fabricated Landscape at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

SO–IL is included among other excellent studios in the upcoming exhibition at the CMoA: The Fabricated Landscape (Jun 26, 2021 – Jan 17, 2022).

Highlighting architecture’s growing diversity and ingenuity, The Fabricated Landscape presents projects from ten architectural practices from around the globe. This generation of architects, born from 1975 and onward, looks anew at ways that architecture communicates with and engages the public realm. From single houses to large-scale infrastructure and public spaces, all participating practices – many of which will be debuting new work for the first time in the United States – look at architecture and design as they relate to local communities and the natural environments in which they exist. The exhibition will be staged in Heinz Architectural Center, one of the nation’s foremost institutes for the study of architecture.

We are proud to be exhibited alongside our colleagues: Anna Heringer, Anne Holtrop, Assemble, Frida Escobedo, Go Hasegawa, LCLA, MAIO, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, UMWELT.

SO–IL’s projects included in the exhibition are the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in Davis, CA, our recently-opened Las Americas affordable housing project in Leon, Mexico, and our sustainable housing prototype Breathe in Milan, Italy.

The Fabricated Landscape is organized by Raymund Ryan, Curator-at-Large, Heinz Architectural Center. “The exhibition’s goal,” says Raymund Ryan, “is to showcase the plurality and diversity of the current global architectural landscape. In fact, each practice’s work is dispersed throughout the installation so as to have other architects’ work as new neighbors. It’s fascinating to see how these architects tackle similar problems with such disparate influences, techniques, and materials.”

The exhibition will be on view from June 26, 2021 through January 17, 2022.

May 22, 2021
UCCA Edge Opens in Shanghai

The UCCA Edge art museum is the latest contemporary art venue to open in Shanghai on May 22. The 5,500-square-meter, three-story museum along Suzhou Creek is the third space opened by renowned institution Ullens Center for Contemporary Art,  one of China’s largest museums for contemporary art. 

UCCA Edge in Shanghai is currently holding the City on the Edge: Art and Shanghai at the Turn of the Millennium exhibition until July 11. Curated by UCCA director and CEO of UCCA Group Philip Tinari, the exhibition features significant artworks that emerged in Shanghai in the 2000s.

“We hope to grow into an institution that serves all China, and Shanghai is for sure the first step out of Beijing,” Tinari said at the opening ceremony.

Aiming to draw both seasoned art viewers and casual visitors, the museum offers a cafe, bookstore and a restaurant. The museum will also hold a series of public programs every weekend during the inaugural exhibition, including performance art shows at the museum every Sunday, guided tours by special guests every Saturday and a slate of talks with artists and scholars.

May 13, 2021
SO–IL Selected for Onggi Village Competition

SO–IL has been invited to participate in the Next Onggi Village International Design Competition. 

With origins in 4000-5000 BC, Onggi (옹기) are Korean earthenware vessels used for storage and tableware. Onggi are famously fermentation-friendly with a uniquely durable microporous structure that resists rot and encourages growth of cultures to produce food such as kimchi.

Oego-san (mountain) Onggi Village is the only Onggi-concentrated village in Korea. It was formed in the 50s and flourished with a influx of active population in the 70s when the Onggi industry was at its peak. Since the 2000s, Onggi Village has been promoted as a representative cultural tourism resource in the region with a variety of projects such as Onggi Culture Expo and Onggi Festival. The competition aims to revitalize Onggi Village as an attraction and cultural center and revitalize out-of-use resources.

March 25, 2021
City of León announces the opening of Las Américas Housing Complex

[León, Guanajuato, MX, March 25, 2021] — SO–IL, Instituto Municipal de Vivienda de León (IMUVI), and the City of León are delighted to announce the opening of Las Américas Housing Complex, took place on Friday, March 26th in León, Guanajuato, Mexico.

At the turn of the millennium, Mexico’s federal government mounted a massive campaign against crowded and inadequate housing to raise the living standards of its working-class families. Despite occasional success, still millions of Mexicans are living in substandard housing. Many remote suburban neighborhoods constructed as part of the campaign have deteriorated due to a lack of services and access, while other developments have been entirely abandoned. The call for a more sustainable solution has never been more urgent.

In 2016, SO–IL began work with IMUVI in the populous city of León in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato to develop a housing program that could address the issues of cost, quality, and loss of critical urban density.

Las Américas, is a scalable model for urban cohabitation. The project houses 56 families around two landscaped courtyards within an integrated vertical housing block at the city’s urban core. The design maximizes the plot’s buildable footprint and includes parking and a commercial base. 

November 1, 2020
a+u publishes SO–IL monograph 'Unfinished Business'

Shinkenchiku-Sha Co., Ltd, the nearly a century-old Japanese publishing house dedicates issue #602nd of its’s well-renowned publication a+u to the work of SO–IL. The monograph captures twenty-five projects and is accompanied by an essay by Mohamed Sharif, and a conversation with Karamuk Kuo (Jeannette Kuo, Ünal Karamuk)

Says Shinkenchiku-Sha “Our editorial focus is on SO–IL’s experiments in sense engagement, which are explored through the material qualities of their work. As such, the monograph is loosely structured as a gradient from “soft and flimsy” to “hard and thick,” from skin and membrane to surface and mass. The body stays central in our reading.” 

order the publication here.

August 10, 2020
SO–IL opens "Murmuration" at High Museum of Art in Atlanta

The High Museum of Art has been engaging visitors of all ages in participatory art experiences on the Carroll Slater Sifly Piazza since 2014. This year’s site-specific commission Murmuration was designed by the architectural firm SO–IL. Inspired by Atlanta’s reputation as the “city in a forest” and by the High’s proximity to the city’s abundant greenspace Piedmont Park, SO–IL has designed a 2,350-square-foot mesh canopy that evokes the environment of neighboring trees. This sculptural pavilion, complete with feeding stations and perches, also reflects upon the loss of billions of birds in recent decades. Visitors are invited to “perch and nest” alongside the birds in this outdoor mesh canopy.

More info on the project, here.

May 4, 2020
Lisbon's MAAT museum premieres documentary about SO–IL 's temporary work on Dezeen

In this exclusive movie premiere screened as part of VDF’s collaboration with MAAT, Florian Idenburg, and Jing Liu of SO–IL explain 12 temporary architecture projects that feature in an exhibition at the Lisbon museum.

Watch the documentary here

August 24, 2019
SO–IL opens “Into the Hedge,” a site specific installation at Exhibit Columbus

As one of the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize recipients of the second edition of Exhibit Columbus, SO–IL took on the preservation effort at the Miller House and Garden and turned it into a temporary landmark for play in the city of Columbus, Indiana.

In partnership with the Miller House and Garden, SO–IL procured 130 living Arbor Vitae trees and placed them in a large hammock structure on the lawn of the Bartholomew County Courthouse. After the exhibition the trees can be permanently planted in the garden, making a direct link between the installation’s original architectural inspiration and a contribution to the stewardship of one of Columbus, Indiana’s seven National Historic Landmarks.

The site-specific installation will be on display through November 2019, with special programming planned throughout the exhibition.

More info on the project, here. 

More info on Exhibit Columbus, here.

May 30, 2019
SO–IL and IMUVI break ground on Las Americas in Leon

The Municipal Housing Institute (IMUVI) of León, a city of 1.6 million people in the central state of Guanajuato, invited  SO–IL to collaborate on the design of a new prototype for social housing in the city’s center, and the team broke ground on the result, the Las Américas project, May 30th. Designed for low-income families, the building includes 56 apartments, most of which will be sold at far-below-market rates.

May 15, 2019
SO–IL + SCAPE Chosen as Finalists for Waterside Design Competition

Following an international call for submissions resulting in three shortlisted teams, the Waterside Design Competition has released the final selection of teams.

The SO–IL with SCAPE, Guy Nordenson and Associates, James Lima Planning + Development, Art Strategies, Nelson/Nygaard, and Manuel Miranda Practice are one of three shortlisted teams selected to design a redevelopment of a 103 acre parcel in the heart of Indianapolis, Indiana. .

The competition will kick off a 15-year, $1.4 billion redevelopment of the site. The initiative aims to transform the former GM Stamping Plan and will focus on the adaptive reuse of what is known as the “Crane Bay.” Addressing three core components, the design will redevelop 25,000 sq ft of the Crane Bay, generate a public plaza that will surround the Bay, and a pedestrian bridge to connect the surrounding neighborhoods, across the White River. 

May 14, 2019
SO–IL, West 8 and Charcoalblue selected as winning team for Artpark Masterplan

The Artpark & Company board of directors has confirmed selection of the lead design team for its master plan: Internationally recognized architecture and design firm SO–IL; landscape architects West 8; and theater, acoustics and digital design consultancy Charcoalblue. They are tasked with the development of a strategy to revitalize the Artpark grounds, while improving connectivity, facilities and programs.

With the objective to maximize overall park usage and potential focus on visitor experience, technological advancement, and ecologically conscious cultural leadership, the Artpark master plan will be conducted on the highest level of contemporary design and technology. The plan will further develop Artpark as an internationally recognized, financially sustainable destination where the arts, ecology, technology and culture interact on a broad scale with unprecedented impact year-round. With this project, Artpark advances a regional resurgence in building for the arts, nature and culture, in which visionary design is supporting the expansion and augmentation of Buffalo-Niagara cultural ecosystem.

April 24, 2019
SO–IL reveals their design proposal for Wesleyan University’s Davison Art Center’s new gallery

In response to an invited design competition, SO–IL proposed a transparent connector between two buildings and a solid gallery for works on paper.

The design addresses the duality of the site, providing strong entrances on the historic, street-facing site as well as on the quad-facing side. By occupying the length of the site, the design treats the procession to the gallery as a sequence in which the visitor is able to slow down through a series of thresholds, including a meditative garden. The spaces are unified by a continuous roof that connects the unique experiences and additionally announces the gallery at its apex.

February 20, 2019
SO–IL and HASSELL announced as design team to transform Melbourne’s Arts Precinct

SO–IL + HASSELL have won the bid to design the outdoor component of the Victorian Government’s Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation project, which will include an elevated inner-city park and new pedestrian connections. The project will deliver 18,000sqm of new and renewed open public space.

SO–IL + HASSELL Project Directors, Jing Liu and Ben Duckworth, said this is a rare opportunity to help shape how Melburnians and millions of international visitors experience the Arts Precinct’s cultural offering as well as this part of the city on a daily basis. “The objective of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Masterplan is to improve the functional aspects of the existing institutions, incorporate the two new facilities, and invigorate and maximize the public experience in this exciting new chapter of the precinct. It’s about making it work and making it memorable – a new place people want to go”, they said.

Victorian Premier, the Honourable Daniel Andrews MP, said that this once-in-a-generation project will reshape Melbourne’s arts heartland and create a massive new outdoor public space. “This project will bring the colour, creativity and activity that happens within our galleries and theatres outside for all to enjoy – no tickets required,” he said.

November 7, 2018
SO–IL designed exhibition “Home Futures” opens at the Design Museum London

SO–IL, in collaboration with John Morgan Studio, has designed an experiential exhibition for the Design Museum in London. The exhibition design features a translucent mesh which is used to create a series of dreamlike passages and rooms. The design evokes feelings of comfort and challenges the notions of privacy as the viewer explores the themes of the exhibition. The ‘home of the future’ has long intrigued designers and popular culture alike. Bringing together avant-garde speculations with contemporary objects and new commissions, Home Futures explores today’s home through the prism of yesterday’s imagination.

After being on display in London, the exhibition will travel to the Ikea Museum in Spring 2019. 

September 9, 2018
SO–IL + BOFFO Building Fashion collaborate to debut Spring/Summer 2019 collection for TELFAR

TELFAR x SO–IL is the thirteenth collaboration in the award winning BOFFO Building Fashion series, an initiative since 2010 that explores the intersection of architecture and fashion through integrated public art, retail experimentation, installation & exhibition design. SO–IL transformed a helipad in Manhattan for a site-specific work which brings into question who is on display and who is walking free.

BOFFO Building Fashion TELFAR x SO–IL is made possible by the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, BOFFO Board of Directors, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. 

September 6, 2018
SO–IL wins West plot in 2022 Asian Games International Design Competition

SO–IL and Chinese firm CUC formed one of six competition entries for the design of the 2022 Asian Games Athletes’ Village. The results of the competition, announced in August, granted SO–IL the Western plot containing a museum, library, performance hall, retail and landscape designs. SO–IL concurrently won the competition for the design of 5 bridges crossing the soon-to-be-excavated canal which bisects the Athletes’ Village. 

June 15, 2018
SO–IL + JKurtz Selected as Winners of the Cleveland Public Library MLK Branch Design Competition

The Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees has announced SO–IL and JKurtz Architects as the winning team in the design competition for the Library’s new Martin Luther King, Jr. Branch. SO–IL + JKurtz presented a design concept for the library branch that surrounds Dr. King’s “table of brotherhood” from his famous 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech.

“SO–IL + JKurtz proposed a functional, beautiful space that speaks to Dr. King’s vision of social justice and equality. The Board found the design inventive and creative, with many features that can make this branch world-class,” says Maritza Rodriguez, President of the Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees. “We are pleased to name SO–IL + JKurtz the winner of this competition.”

May 14, 2018
SO–IL + HASSELL Reveals Designs for Adelaide Contemporary International Design Competition

Following an international call for submissions resulting in six shortlisted teams, the Adelaide Contemporary International Design Competition has released the final designs for public exhibition.

The SO–IL + HASSELL design takes inspiration from what makes Adelaide special. Like the River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri), Adelaide Contemporary will carry and deposit fertile ideas along the course of culture, constantly attracting, hosting and transmitting exciting ideas between the Australian heartland and further afield.

As the anchor project for the formal Royal Adelaide Hospital site, Adelaide Contemporary is a gateway to Adelaide, its parklands and the future of the city itself.

Our design has been revealed on the competition website. All shortlisted designs are on public exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia until 10 June. 

February 16, 2018
SO–IL Is Listed As One Of The Three Finalists To Design The Cleveland Public Library MLK Branch

The Cleveland Public Library announced three design teams combining local and national architecture firms as finalists of the design competition for the Martin Luther King Jr. Branch in University Circle. Replacing the existing MLK Library, the new branch will become part of the upcoming Circle Square project, a four-block development planned by locally based Midwest Development Partners.

Teaming up with emerging architect Jonathan Kurtz in Cleveland, we are thrilled to continue the conversation with the Cleveland Public Library to envision the future of the MLK Branch. This prominent building on Euclid Avenue will be a hub to provide educational amenity, strengthen community networks and become an indispensable part of civic infrastructure.

The three finalists are SO–IL + JKURTZ; MASS Design Group, LDA Architects, Chris Maurer, Marika Shioiri-Clark, and Sarah Lewis; and Bialosky Architects with Vines Architecture.

February 1, 2018
Architectural Furniture, Frame 01, Featured At Friedman Benda

Frame 01, a furniture piece designed to challenge preconceived ideas of objects in the domestic space, has debuted at No-Thing exhibition at Friedman Benda curated by Juan García Mosqueda. No-Thing features furniture by emerging contemporary architectural practices and runs from January 18 to April 14, 2018.

January 10, 2018
SO–IL Is Shortlisted for Designing A Contemporary Art Museum For Adelaide, Australia

Adelaide Contemporary will combine an art gallery with a public sculpture park and meeting place. The initiative will be a focus for the city’s cultural and community energy to create an accessible meeting place, which integrates art, education, and nature.

The first stage of the competition attracted 107 teams from five continents.

We teamed up with HASSELL, one of the leading design practices in Australia with multiple offices spreading out Europe, Asia, and US. Other collaborators include the prominent Australian artist Fiona Hall and the esteemed French landscape architect Catherine Mosbach.The selection panel for the competition included representatives of Arts South Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Office for Design and Architecture South Australia, and was chaired by Michael Lynch AO CBE.

The SO–IL + HASSELL partnership promises a daring architecture proposal for Adelaide Contemporary that is deeply rooted in the heart of the place and its people.

The six teams shortlisted are SO–IL + HASSELL; Adjaye Associates and BVN; BIG and JPE Design Studio; David Chipperfield Architects and SJB Architects; Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot; Khai Liew, Office of Ryue Nishizawa and Durbach Block Jaggers.

September 8, 2017
l’air pour l’air

In conjunction with the second edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial titled “Making New History,” SO–IL and artist Ana Prvački will debut a special project during the Biennial’s opening week. Titled L’air pour l’air, the project aims to ensure the continued legacy of street musicians as our cities’ atmospheres grow more polluted.

Inspired by the abundant plant life in the Garfield Park Conservatory, SO–IL and Prvački have created an ensemble of air-filtering mesh enclosures, designed to clean the air through breathing. Part mask, part shelter, the enclosures will be worn by an ensemble of saxophone, flute, trombone, and vocals from the Chicago Sinfionetta. Through performing an original composition, De Aere (concerning the air), by composer Veronika Krausas, the musicians will “clean the air that produces the music.” The installation and performance encourage its viewers to meditate upon the complex notions such as the relationship between purity and pollution, and the distinctions between self, body, objects, and nature.

Full Press Release

July 19, 2017
SO–IL and Laisné Roussel win Place Mazas!

In joining the Reinventer La Seine competition for the Place Mazas site in Paris, New York-based architects SO–IL and Paris-based Laisne Roussel have partnered with French real estate developers REI Habitat and Icade to create a captivating design proposal. Our winning submission offers a fresh approach to urbanism, one that carefully considers contemporary as well as historical contexts while creating a flexible infrastructure that can evolve in parallel with the city.

Full Press Release

March 6, 2017
Chicago Architecture Biennial 2017

SO–IL is excited to collaborate with Ana Prvački for the upcoming 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial! This year’s Biennial, titled “Make New History,” will take a decidedly historical look at architecture. The show hopes to address the persistent “insistence on creating works that are unprecedented and unrelated to architectures of the past.” The second Biennial will run from September 16th, 2017 through January 8th, 2018.

February 8, 2017
Jing Liu is a finalist for the Moira Gemmill Prize

Jing Liu is a finalist for the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture! In association with The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, the award recognizes architects using innovative architecture to effect social change.

November 18, 2016
Groundbreakers

Curbed announced SO–IL as a 2016 Groundbreaker! The award recognizes architects who are changing the way the built world functions.

November 11, 2016
Manetti Shrem Museum Opens!

The Manetti Shrem Museum of Art opens to the public Sunday November 13, 2016!

October 4, 2016
Florian Idenburg to Speak at UC Denver

Florian Idenburg will speak on Order, Edge, Aura in SO–IL’s work on October 5 as part of the University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture and Planning Fall 2016 Lecture Series.

September 12, 2016
“Towards a Critical Pragmatism” opens at Harvard GSD

Towards a Critical Pragmatism: Contemporary Architecture in China encourages further conversation about the present and future state of China’s architecture culture. With an exhibition design by SO–IL, the show highlights several buildings in five thematic categories—cultural, regeneration, digital, rural, and residential.

The exhibition opens on September 13 at 6:30 pm with a discussion of the situation joined by SO–IL principal, Jing Liu.

August 29, 2016
“Beauty” Travels to San Jose Museum of Art

Cooper Hewitt’s Design Triennial, “Beauty — Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial”, will travel to the San Jose Museum of Art after the show closes in New York this fall. As part of the exhibition, SO–IL’s Veiled and a concept study for Amant will be on display from Sept 24 – Jan 1.

July 2, 2016
SO–IL Participates in Sharing Models: Manhattanisms

“Sharing Models: Manhattanisms” explores the emergence of a culture that is marked by a return to, redefinition, and expansion of the notion of the commons. For the exhibition, Manhattan has been divided into 30 section cuts across New York City from the East River to the Hudson River. SO–IL’s contribution, “Noah’s Ark”, imagines Manhattan’s great grid undone by the endlessly shrinking atomic unit and the chaotic energy embedded between floating particles. All 30 models will be presented as an exquisite corpse at Storefront for Art and Architecture from July 15th – September 2nd, 2016.

May 11, 2016
Future Work at Design Miami Basel

For Knoll Furniture Company, SO–IL has produced three furniture pieces; simultaneously seating, surfaces, and objects made to respond to the increasingly fluid nature of creative production in the workspace. The collection will be on display as part of Design Miami’s Design Curio program in Basel from June 14—June 19, 2016.

April 29, 2016
Jing Liu to Speak at The University of Melbourne

Jing Liu will give a public lecture at the University of Melbourne as part of the University’s “Dean’s Lecture Series” on May 17, 2016.

March 21, 2016
Manetti Shrem Museum Construction Update

Manetti Shrem Museum nears completion!

March 7, 2016
Florian Idenburg to Speak at MoMA

Florian Idenburg to join a panel discussion on key themes addressed in the MoMA exhibition A Japanese Constellation: Toyo Ito, SANAA, and Beyond. The event takes place on Wednesday March 9. More information here.

February 27, 2016
Manetti Shrem Museum Opening Announced

The University of California at Davis announces the currently under construction Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art to open on November 13, 2016.

More information on the opening here.

February 18, 2016
Amant Wins Progressive Architecture Award

SO–IL celebrates winning the 63rd Annual Progressive Architecture Award. Hosted by Architect Magazine, the awards recognize risk-taking practices and seek to promote progress in the field of architecture.

February 12, 2016
“Beauty” Opens at Cooper Hewitt

“Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial” opens today, featuring models and images from Amant and Veiled. Museum Director, Caroline Baumann says, “The exhibition will celebrate design as a creative endeavor that engages the mind, body and senses with works of astonishing form and surprising function.” The exhibition runs from February 12 through August 21.

January 17, 2016
SO–IL is the ‘Top Firm to Watch in 2016’

SO–IL leads Architizer’s list of “10 Firms to Watch in 2016“.

December 12, 2015
SO–IL in BOMB Magazine

Guggenheim curator Troy Conrad Therrien interviews SO–IL for the Winter Issue of BOMB Magazine. In the feature, SO–IL principals muse on the location of contemporary architecture, the firm’s current trajectory and antimatter.

November 16, 2015
Chicago’s Architecture Biennial: The Best of a Building Buff’s Dream Event

Passage is featured in The Wall Street Journal’s review of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial.

September 9, 2015
Ilias Papageorgiou Speaks at Hopscotch Design Festival

Hopscotch Design Festival gathers thinkers, makers and storytellers to share ideas and foster conversations about how design is shaping the future. Over the two-day festival, Ilias Papageorgiou will speak a variety creatives working across graphic design, urban planning, technology, architecture, music, food and film.

July 31, 2015
Gentrification Lab NYC: 7 Stops on the L-Line

Florian Idenburg participates in Gentrification Lab, an exhibition and discussion addressing the potential role of architecture in gentrification. Organized by ZUS and hosted by Syracuse Architecture, the lab aims to reconnect architecture with the economic, social and political realities of the contemporary city.

July 24, 2015
Landscapes of the Hyperreal: Ábalos & Herreros selected by SO–IL

In conjunction with Out of the Box: Ábalos & Herreros, the exhibition Landscapes of the Hyperreal: Ábalos & Herreros selected by SO–IL results from guest curators Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu’s focused immersion in the Ábalos & Herreros fonds at the CCA.

Accompanying the exhibition is an installation; a pixelated carpet which spans the entire exhibition floor. The exhibition runs from July 23rd, 2015 to September 13th, 2015.

July 8, 2015
Jing Liu to Moderate Discussion of “The Architectural Impulse”

“The Architectural Impulse” is a group exhibition at Cristin Tierney Gallery displaying artists working with the materials, processes and theoretical concerns of the architectural discipline. As part of the exhibition, Jing Liu will moderate a discussion with Alois Kronschlaeger, Jean Shin and Elise Ferguson at The Center for Architecture.

June 15, 2015
Florian Idenburg in Conversation with Alvaro Siza

On June 24th at the Guggenheim Museum, Florian Idenburg and Alvaro Siza will discuss the Portuguese architect’s latest thinking on the life of an architect through a presentation of a selection of his work.

May 15, 2015
SO–IL Completes Tina Kim Gallery

Tina Kim Gallery’s new location opens at 525 W 21st St in New York City.

March 27, 2015
Tourism Landscapes Opens at the Acropolis Museum

Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece opens at the Acropolis Museum in Athens today. SO–IL’s contribution, Veiled, will be displayed among a collection of 15 proposals by Greek and foreign architects through Saturday, April 11, 2015.

March 13, 2015
Manetti Shrem Museum at UC Davis Tops Out

SO–IL celebrates the completion of Manetti Shrem Museum of Art‘s structural framework.

February 23, 2015
SO–IL and FREAKS wins Site Verrier Competition 2013

SO–IL, in collaboration with FREAKS freearchitects, wins first prize in a competition to re-envision the historical Site Verrier de Meisenthal. Comprised of a cluster of buildings, the former glass factory will be unified by a concrete “tapestry.” This “tapestry” simultaneously clarifies the site’s complex topography and creates a highly flexible space that allows for a variety of functions from festivals to outdoor performances.

January 23, 2015
Blueprint opens at Storefront for Art and Architecture

The newest iteration of Blueprint is now open at Storefront for Art and Architecture through March 21, 2015. Curated by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu of SO–IL, and artist Sebastiaan Bremer, the exhibition invited artists and architects to reflect on the theme of origination through the medium of the blueprint.

Realized as part of the exhibition, an installation by SO–IL shrink-wraps the gallery’s façade of varied and irregular openings, transforming it’s exterior into one continuous and undulating surface. The resulting interior provides an intimate space that allows the viewer to see behind the mind of the artist.

November 20, 2014
Forecast opens at RISD

Forecast, a exhibition introducing a recent SO–IL project through a number of material and representational explorations, opens at the BEB Gallery at RISD.

October 18, 2014
SO–IL at CCA

SO–IL spends the last 2 weeks of November at the CCA in Montreal, exploring the archive of Abalos y Herreros, as part of the ‘out of the box’ series.

September 24, 2014
SO–IL achieves 3rd place in Wynwood Park Competition, Miami

In its first attempts at landscape design and planning, SO–IL is excited about achieving 3rd place in an open competition to design a park in the Wynwood area of Miami.

September 20, 2014
Veiled Architecture: Kukje Gallery, opens at Art Institute Chicago

On view between 09/13/2014 and 01/25/2015, Veiled Architecture presents a series of conceptual and schematic models that reveals SO–IL’s process to recreate a traditional white-cube gallery as an innovative and striking building.

July 20, 2014
SO–IL designed exhibition, Bad Thoughts, opens at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

On view between 07/20/2014 and 11/9/2014, Bad Thoughts is a unique, large scale survey of the works assembled by Amsterdam collectors Martijn en Jeannette Sanders. With work by David Claerbout, Gilbert & George, Anton Henning, Anselm Kiefer, Cindy Sherman and many others.

July 4, 2014
MoMA features SO–IL in Conceptions of Space, Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Architecture

Conceptions of Space, on view between July 4–October 19, 2014, addresses how contemporary architects continue to embrace spatial creation as a fundamental focus of their work. Participants offer a global panorama of architectural practice today, from acclaimed architects such as Herzog & de Meuron, Álvaro Siza, and Kengo Kuma, to young, emergent practices such as Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Chile; Ryue Nishizawa, Japan; Ensamble Studio, Spain; and the New York-based SO–IL and MOS Architects.

May 22, 2014
SO–IL announces Ilias Papageorgiou as new partner

SO–IL is pleased to announce Ilias Papageorgiou as a new partner. His appointment supports the steady growth in size and scope of the firm over the last 5 years. Ilias has been with SO–IL since its inception in 2008 and has played a key role in the firm’s recognition and success. As a partner Ilias will continue to lead the creative processes in the office and the implementation of the projects in the world, as well as to drive the development and growth of the firm. Ilias joins current partners Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu.

March 6, 2014
SO–IL breaks ground on the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis

SO–IL announces the groundbreaking on March 1, 2014 for the new Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at the University of California, Davis in Davis, CA. Designed by SO–IL, in a design-build partnership with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and Whiting-Turner, the design advances the fundamental notion of the art museum in the 21st century.

Press Release

February 16, 2014
Blueprint Exhibition Opens at KAdE

Curated by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu of SO–IL, and artist Sebastiaan Bremer, Blueprint/Blauwdruk is open at Kunsthal KAdE through March 23, 2014.

December 18, 2013
SO–IL Shortlisted for Arts Cluster in Arnhem, NL

The team of SO–IL and Architectuurstudio HH (AHH) has been shortlisted for The Arts Cluster, a planned development along the Rhine river in the inner city of Arnhem. Other shortlisted firms include Kengo Kuma and Associates, BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group, NL Architects, and Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Announced in October 2013, the project will bring together Museum Arnhem (MMKA) and Focus Filmtheater Arnhem (FFA) in a new cultural facility in Rijnboog (expected GFA 8,500 m2), the southern part of Arnhem’s inner city.

Press release
Selected Press:
 Arch Daily

November 12, 2013
SO–IL completes new installation “Spiky”

SO–IL completes a new installation “Spiky”—a serial conic canopy made of expanded metal mesh—in the Beijing Olympic Park adjacent to the Beijing National Stadium.“Spiky” was realized as part of the 5th China International Architectural Biennial 2013 in Beijing, China, which included installations by Mohsen Mostafavi, Herzog & de Meuron and Zaha Hadid.

Selected Press: Design Boom

November 1, 2013
SO–IL selected to design arts incubator at New Museum

The New Museum has commissioned SO–IL to design their new incubator for art, technology, and design. Slated to open in summer 2014 in the Museum’s adjacent building at 231 Bowery, this new not-for-profit initiative aims to create a hybrid educational and professional workspace—a dynamic 24/7 center where more than sixty start-up and creative entrepreneurs will gather. SO–IL’s proposal will address the notion that there are different modes of working, from concentrated work alone or in small groups, to having meetings with external consultants, or Skype calls. The renovation will involve a set of elements that can be adjusted to suit a constantly evolving program.

Press Release

February 12, 2013
SO–IL winner Emerging Voices 2013

Each year the Architectural League in NYC selects eight emerging practitioners. The Emerging Voices award spotlights individuals and firms based in the United States, Canada, or Mexico with distinct design voices and the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape design, and urbanism. Being named an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League is one of the most coveted awards in North American architecture, and the program has a superb track record over its thirty-year history of identifying and nurturing firms that go on to have influential practices. For a complete list of past winners, click here.

January 17, 2013
Kukje nominated for Designs of the Year 2013

Our design for Kukje Gallery has been nominated for Designs of the Year 2013 in the category Architecture by the Design Museum in London and will be on display at the museum from March 20 till July 7.

January 15, 2013
SO–IL is Best Firm Making its Debut in Record

Architectural Record selected SO–IL as ‘Best Firm Making Its Debut in Record’ for Editor’s Picks: Best Architecture of 2012.